Co-starring Danny Glover and Graham Greene, 'Chasing Shakespeare' parallels a modern-day love story with that of William Shakespeare’s 16th century “Romeo & Juliet” — and incorporates Native American spiritual and mythical themes.

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Movie night at the cinema generally dredges up memories of sticky floors, stale popcorn and candy-crusted folding seats. But when the Breckenridge Festival of Film opens tonight at the Riverwalk Center with the Colorado premiere of “Chasing Shakespeare,” film aficionados are in for a different kind of treat.

Scotty B, chef-owner of Ember in Breckenridge, and his team will be creating finger foods for the Opening Night after party at nearby Ember restaurant, and there won’t be a kernel of popcorn in sight.

“Fundamentally, we want people to have fun with the food,” he said. “That’s the most important thing — if we burn as many calories by people laughing and talking about the food as we’re putting into them, then everybody wins.”

The menu includes shrimp corndogs, cantaloupe caprese skewers with balsamic, a veal piccata satay and goat feta-stuffed sweet piquillo peppers. And be sure to try one of the pork gorditas with chapulini guacamole — made with cured crickets. In addition to serving up off-the-wall dishes on Opening Night, Ember is also a sponsor of the festival.

“The Film Fest has been a staple in our community for so many years,” Scotty B said. “Anything we can do to keep the artistic culture of Breckenridge running strong or growing.”

As for his favorite cinema snacks, Scotty B said he’s not typically awake to enjoy them.

“I have cinema narcolepsy, so I fall asleep in movies, so that’s my guilty pleasure,” he said with a laugh, and then, after a bit of reflection. “I take shots off the butter machine for popcorn; I’d wrap my lips around that thing.”

The films

The Oscar-nominated, live-action short “Death of a Shadow” will open the 33rd Breckenridge Festival of Film tonight, followed by the Colorado premiere of Danny Glover’s latest release, “Chasing Shakespeare.”

The short, created by Belgian filmmaker Tom Van Avermaet, follows Nathan Rijckx, a deceased World War I soldier stuck in limbo between life and death, as he collects shadows to regain a second chance at life and love. With two shadows left to collect, he discovers something that shakes his world completely.

Co-starring Graham Greene, “Chasing Shakespeare” parallels a modern-day love story with that of William Shakespeare’s 16th century “Romeo & Juliet” — and incorporates Native American spiritual and mythical themes. The film was named Best Feature Film at AFI Cannes Film Festival, Audience Favorite at SXSW and was the winner of several awards — including Best Actor — at FirstGlance Hollywood Film Festival.

The two films kick off a lineup of more than 50 films that range from the independent, feature-length Austrian thriller “Body Complete” to the adrenaline-pumping and visually intriguing kayak descents of waterfalls in Mexico in “Cascada” by Camp 4 Collective. And if you’re coming for the Opening Night films, be sure to stick around for the after party.

“This is the first one we’ve done, so we’ll see how it goes,” Scotty B said. “I hope there’s a big turnout. We can share our art with other people who appreciate art, so it’s a beautiful merger.”